Jan. 22, 2008 - Trees of Red Rock Canyon

Canon 5D, 24-105 mm f/4L IS @ 50 mm, 1/50 sec., ISO 200, polarizer

As I continue my explorations of Red Rock Canyon, I am more and more amazed by the abundance of life flourishing in this desert environment. Being a novice, of course, means that the life that I observe is likely only a small fraction of all that is actually here. Still, it's hard not to be impressed by the diversity of life that even the most casual of observers can see in what at first appears to be nothing but a vast sea of sand and rock. For some reason, though, it is the trees that interest me most.

I find that I am drawn not so much to the "live" trees growing here, but to the dead or near-dead. Even those that are not terribly large appear to be fairly old. Or maybe they just seem "old", given the harshness of the environment. Knarled and twisted, they have endured extreme heat, drought, flash floods, and who knows what else.

What stories might they tell if they could?